Different electric guitar sounds

[Dave2002]

I didn't realise that there are so many people "out there" who are concerned about the sound of electric guitars.

This video is interesting, as it shows one musician who seems to have discovered that he knows what he wants his playing to sound like, but sound engineers often change "his" sound in ways he doesn't really want. I didn't realise that some sound engineers actually do stick microphones in front of electric guitars - I thought the whole point of an electric guitar was that the sound was generated by the interaction between a player, the strings, and back end electronics.

OK - adding in microphones and physical amps are just adding more effects, but then - as suggested here - they may not produce the sounds which the musicians want.

https://youtu.be/ZiXE4SDMz50

[Joseph K]

I didn't realise that there are so many people "out there" who are concerned about the sound of electric guitars.

Just about every electric guitarist, surely?!

It's quite a popular instrument too.

[RichardB]

Engineers don’t put mics in front of electric guitars, they put mics in front of amplifiers. The amplifier is in a real sense part of the instrument. Guitar amps are made to optimise the sound of the guitar. Every electric guitarist I know is very much concerned with their sound. Why would they not be?

[Bryn]

Engineers don’t put mics in front of electric guitars, they put mics in front of amplifiers. The amplifier is in a real sense part of the instrument. Guitar amps are made to optimise the sound of the guitar. Every electric guitarist I know is very much concerned with their sound. Why would they not be?

Wearing my pedant's hat, do not some recording engineers take a feed directly from the amplifier?

[RichardB]

Wearing my pedant's hat, do not some recording engineers take a feed directly from the amplifier?

Some do, yes, but then there's the question of how the instrument sounds to the player in the recording studio, which obviously has a strong influence on how they play. When I've recorded electric guitars I've tended to use a belt and braces policy in thie respect: a close (dynamic) mic next to the amplifier, a slightly more distant one (U 87) for the room and a direct feed from the amplifier (ie. after any effects pedals but before the power amp and speaker). This is how the lap steel guitar in world-line was recorded. The recorded sound is a mixture of all three tracks.

[Dave2002]

Some do, yes, but then there's the question of how the instrument sounds to the player in the recording studio, which obviously has a strong influence on how they play. When I've recorded electric guitars I've tended to use a belt and braces policy in thie respect: a close (dynamic) mic next to the amplifier, a slightly more distant one (U 87) for the room and a direct feed from the amplifier (ie. after any effects pedals but before the power amp and speaker). This is how the lap steel guitar in world-line was recorded. The recorded sound is a mixture of all three tracks.

So it is really quite complex, and must require some judgement. Again - that is the point of the linked video. The guitarist who made it pointed out that often the sound he wanted at a gig - if he wasn't in control - was not provided by the engineers, and he therefore thought that there was little point in him lugging his expensive "amplifier" around if the sound was going to be spoilt in his opinion anyway. He also suggested that often, in some venues, the sound was fed into a PA system anyway, so as I understand it his solution was to use different kit - albeit still giving the kind of sound he wanted, and then allowing that to be fed into the venue's PA system. Presumably that would only work well if the venue has good sound equipment, and a high quality mixing desk. Also there may well be a difference between live gigs and recordings - though again that would depend. If there were time to do good setup beforehand and review afterwards, then maybe "better" results can be had with recordings, but for musicians - and their fans - who want to have the live experience, then it's got to be good, and presumably with the optimum level of set up for the quality of results desired.

[RichardB]

So it is really quite complex, and must require some judgement.

Like pretty much everything else to do with music.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I thought most guitar sound , either recorded or live at gigs, was a mix of DI (direct injection ) into the main mixer and sound taken off by mikes from speakers directly linked to power amps - very often Marshalls. The DI has the pure off the magnetic pick up sound and the miked amps the distinctive distortion introduced by the power amp. I met an amp tuner at a guitar shop once busy with soldering iron. He had worked for many of the major bands including Pete Townsend . I never quite worked out what he did but apparently it makes a big difference.

[Dave2002]

Surely we had (electric) guitar sound since at least the end of the 60s, if not before that. I used to think the sound was "just" the sound of a string vibrating, and directly modulating some electronics, but now it seems that from the 60s on, part of the sound was deliberate distortion. From the technologies involved, was that mostly analogue in nature? Nowadays a vibrating string could drive digital systems which could simulate analogue distortion, or provide other effects. This prompts another question - do electric guitar now function using analogue electronics, or do they now use a mixture of analogue and digital? I guess some guitar pedals, which many players use are actually digital. So what actually is an electric guitar nowadays?

[Bryn]

Surely we had (electric) guitar sound since at least the end of the 60s, if not before that. I used to think the sound was "just" the sound of a string vibrating, and directly modulating some electronics, but now it seems that from the 60s on, part of the sound was deliberate distortion. From the technologies involved, was that mostly analogue in nature? Nowadays a vibrating string could drive digital systems which could simulate analogue distortion, or provide other effects. This prompts another question - do electric guitar now function using analogue electronics, or do they now use a mixture of analogue and digital? I guess some guitar pedals, which many players use are actually digital. So what actually is an electric guitar nowadays?

N O Moore sometimes uses his Moog Guitar. The range of digital treatments available to players of electric guitars is phenominal.

[Dave2002]

N O Moore sometimes uses his Moog Guitar. The range of digital treatments available to players of electric guitars is phenominal.

Thanks - here's some more:

https://youtu.be/b3SsYQrgcyA

[RichardB]

So what actually is an electric guitar nowadays?

If you're really interested in that question you should read this fascinating book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/21st-c...9781501373299/

[Dave2002]

If you're really interested in that question you should read this fascinating book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/21st-c...9781501373299/

Thanks. Bit expensive, but I'll see if the library can get it on inter library loans.